


Promise Me

by Princess_Claire_Fey



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Honeymoon, PostWar, comic compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-10
Updated: 2019-09-10
Packaged: 2020-10-14 07:16:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20596850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Princess_Claire_Fey/pseuds/Princess_Claire_Fey
Summary: Azula and Ozai finally manage to get away. Azula never wants to go back.





	Promise Me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GulDukatsWife](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GulDukatsWife/gifts).

"I've never been here before." Azula said suddenly, looking out at the waves.  
  
Ozai turned to Azula, raising an eyebrow. "Hmm?"  
  
Azula sighed, still taking in the scene. "I've traveled across the world, but in the Fire Nation I've never ventured far outside the caldera." she explained. "I never realized that our country was so..." Azula paused, cringing at the sappy sentence she had just come up with. "...beautiful."  
  
Ozai considered for a moment. For him it had been the opposite, he had barely set foot outside the nation yet he had traveled almost everywhere inside it during his days as Fire Prince, scurrying around and currying favor. "I suppose there is a little irony in that." he said. "It was me who sent you off. I did it because I didn't want you to become like me." he admitted.  
  
"What?" Azula was surprised. Ozai was never one to admit _regrets._ At least not without an argument first.  
  
He looked down. Azula was right, Ozai _wasn't_ one for regrets. Yet recent events had given the deposed Firelord a new perspective. Failure wasn't something Ozai was used to. At first, he had met it with the unbridled rage he always did. He tried to claw back everything he had lost. Ozai sent out his daughter and lover on impossible missions to get back his throne.   
  
The years took their toll. Anger faded to sadness and he did the unspeakable. He cried, there in his cell. He'd never admit that to Azula, of course - but at the very least he could admit it to himself. It wasn't just a one-time slip as he tried to sell it to himself. Not a bad week or even a bad month. The loneliness of being in that cell had gnawed at him. The realization that his defeat was his own and nobody else's.  
  
"I never left." Ozai said finally. "I sent others to do my duty rather than doing it myself, so that when they failed I could blame them rather than myself." he said dramatically.   
  
A long silence.  
  
Azula put a hand on his shoulder, pulling him closer. "I forgive you." she said. "For putting your responsibilities on me."  
  
Ozai wanted to kick himself. He felt like crying again. "Of course." he said, as though her response was a guarantee.  
  
There was another silence before he spoke again. "Let me show you what you missed." he said, taking her hand and standing up. "There's somewhere I want to take you."  
  
"Oh?"  
  
Ozai nodded. "I used to come here years ago, before you were born." he began. "A man told me that if I ever had a woman I loved, I should take her to this restaurant on the water." he explained. "Of course, at the time, I just took anyone there. You know how I was."  
  
Azula laughed, Ozai having told her of his many exploits as a young prince. "I do."  
  
"But now I feel I should take the man's advice."   
  
It was a short walk on the beach to the waterfront restaurant. Azula took off her shoes so she could feel the seawater at her feet. Ozai refused, of course, but that didn't stop her. It was nice just to enjoy the simple things for once.  
  
A man greeted them at the door. "Welcome to Vic's." he said with a smile that matched his words of welcome. "What can I bring you today?"  
  
"Just a table for my wife and I." he said, enjoying saying the word _wife_ without anyone questioning his union with his daughter. Nobody knew them out here, he could refer to her however he wished.  
  
"Sure thing." the man said with a smile, leading them into an empty room full of circular tables which sat in front of a stage, moving to pull out a seat for the lady before Ozai stopped him to do it himself. "Since you're the first one's here, I guess you get the honor of choosing the music." he said, handing out menus.   
  
Ozai considered for a moment. "We're on our honeymoon." he said.  
  
"I know just the thing."  
  
Azula looked out at the ocean as the well-dressed man and his entourage started playing.  


> _There are many many crazy things_   
_That will keep me loving you_   
_And with your permission_   
_May I list a few_

  
"You were right to take me here." Azula said finally after another man took their order. "This is way better than the honeymoon I had imagined."  
  
Ozai smiled. "What did you imagine? he asked.  
  
"The two of us, at the palace." she began. "Eating whatever the servants brought to us like we had almost every day of our lives, sitting at that old table on Ember Island." she explained.   
  
Ozai laughed.  


> _The way you wear your hat_   
_The way you sip your tea_   
_The memory of all that_   
_No they can't take that away from me_

  
"What!?" Azula asked, unable to stop herself from joining in.   
  
"...that's what I had imagined too." he said as he accepted the glass of wine from the waiter.  
  
Azula snorted. "Great minds think alike?"  
  
"I suppose so." he said, finally managing to speak normally again.  
  
"I want to travel the Fire Isles with you." Azula said. "I never want to sit in the same place day in and day out ever again." she said dramatically. "Can you promise me that?"  


> _The way your smile just beams_   
_The way you sing off key_   
_The way you haunt my dreams_   
_No they can't take that away from me_

  
"I promise." Ozai said.  
  
"I don't want to fight any more wars." she said. "I don't want to give anyone the opportunity to take you away from me again. I'm happy to be right here with you - no crown, no guards, no enemies."  
  
Azula stood up and walked to Ozai so she could sit in his lap, getting a better view of Vic and his performers.  
  
"Just you, me, and the ocean. Can you promise me that?"  


> _We may never never meet again, on that bumpy road to love_   
_But I'll always, always keep the memory of_

  
Ozai embraced Azula.  
  
He had wanted to get the throne back, he really did.  
  
But seeing her this happy, this content. She was different in a way Ozai hadn't seen before. No longer concerned with the next mission, no longer worried about being perfect. Just living in the moment.  
  
She was right. He didn't anyone to take this away.  
  
"I promise" he said again.  


> _The way you hold your knife_   
_The way we danced till three_   
_The way you changed my life_   
_No they can't take that away from me_


End file.
